China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s biggest steelmaker, is slashing steel prices for domestic deliveries next month and lowering prices for most products for deliveries next quarter as the global steel industry is entering a short-term correction due to precarious US tariff policies and the slack season effect.
The Kaohsiung-based company in a statement released on Thursday said that it is cutting prices of domestic deliveries by NT$600 per tonne next month. In the third quarter, price cuts would be applicable for a wide range of products with prices going down between NT$500 and NT$800 per tonne.
However, the prices of two types of regular steel plate would be unchanged, the statement said.
Photo: Fang Wei-cheih, Taipei Times
“The global steel market is facing the double whammy of sagging demand and trade policy uncertainties. China Steel is adjusting prices downward for July and third-quarter deliveries in an effort to assist our downstream customers to vie for more orders,” China Steel said in the statement. “We are hoping to overcome these challenges together with our partners in the industry supply chain.”
China Steel said the global steel industry is experiencing a downswing in demand in the short term. In the US and Europe, steel prices are declining amid sluggish demand after the US imposed a 50 percent tariff on steel imports. In Asia, steelmakers are also facing price pressure when selling steel products overseas.
In Taiwan, exporters are losing their pricing competitiveness due to constant appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, leading to stagnation of demand, China Steel said.
The prices of raw materials, including iron ore and coking coal, remain steady or are even falling, the company said.
The price of iron ore is hovering at US$95 per tonne. The price of coking coal consolidated in a range from US$180 to US$195 per tonne last month, it said. Global steel prices usually resonate with the fluctuations of raw material prices.
Separately, China Steel on Thursday announced that its shareholders had approved the distribution of a cash dividend of NT$0.33 per common share, the lowest since 2020. The company posted earnings per share of NT$0.13 last year.
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